Gernot Gugerbauer, Renewable Energy Engineer at Combi Energy Systems in...

US-based thin film module maker and EPC company, First Solar, is facing a bonanza in its home market, according to recent PV Insider news and Industry Insight reports. Bloomberg reported thin-film panel prices had risen to an 11-month high in the US after the imposition of new duties affecting Chinese PV imports from Taiwan.

Module makers can land commercial relationships with domestic companies, that increasingly illustrate the power and economics of partnerships over technology advantages. According to a report by PV Insider, the increasing importance of commercial relationships may partly explain First Solar’s declining presence in the Indian market, for example.

Previously, the company had built its market share on the back of a presumed technical advantage plus funding help from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and an exemption from local content rules.

As the last two factors have fallen in importance, though, Indian developers have begun drifting towards c-Si, irrespective of any potential technical benefits for thin film.

The current trend could also make it easier to predict where PV players, especially those in the thin film arena, will dominate in future. Solar Frontier, for example, will clearly continue to be the market leader in Japan, and First Solar in the US. Hanergy, which is building a 3GW manufacturing plant, could predominate in China. All of these trends lean towards strong domestic markets keeping revenues on track for the next 12 months, at least.

“Made in Europe”

Systems provider Combi Energy Systems CES has opted, however, for high quality European products over less expensive imports. This was welcome news for Scandinavian-German manufacturer Innotech Solar (ITS), which has recently supplied the Hönigsberg industrial park in the Austrian state of Styria with an 800 kWp photovoltaic plant, which is installed on several buildings across the site.

Ten companies based at the industrial park founded an entity specifically to carry out the project. During the first twelve years of operation, the solar power provided by the installation will be fed into the public grid. The solar power plant will subsequently be adapted for on-site consumption and will supply the companies in the industrial park directly with solar-based electricity.

The solar park comprises ten individual installations that are connected to form two main systems and feed solar power into the public grid at two different points. The owner of the photovoltaic power plant is the industrial park operator, WGM.

“Due to the special nature of this solar installation’s business model, high-yield modules and outstanding quality were key factors when selecting the system components,” explains Gernot Gugerbauer, Renewable Energy Engineer at Combi Energy Systems in Mauthausen near Linz, Austria.

“Cutbacks are often made on quality in large solar projects, but I see this as a flawed approach, as the yield losses are multiplied especially in large-scale systems. We made a conscious decision to select only high-quality, European components, since they ultimately determine the profitability of large-scale PV projects.”

In this case, the Austrian systems provider supported Styrian plant manufacturer and general contractor, ABC Anlagenbau & Consulting, in planning the solar plant for the park.

“For over a year now, we have sold almost exclusively modules from Innotech Solar. Our clients greatly value their high yields and product quality. We are only able to satisfy the high expectations of our expert partners if we have the right products in our portfolio,” says Gugerbauer.

According to project developer and general planner, civil engineer Karl Deininger, once the FIT has expired, those involved want to hand the PV plant over to the companies within the entity. “The industrial park will then be able to supply some 75 per cent of the energy it needs independently, which is roughly equivalent to the power consumed by 220 households,” he says.

“In addition to the profitability of the project during the feed-in period, the durability and high quality of the components are the key factors, as the installation should continue to supply the industrial park with renewable energy for many years after the handover.

When qulity pays off

Frank Kleine, Vice President of Cell Production at Innotech Solar, says the company’s optimization process and its cells exhibit a uniform electrical behaviour, which contributes to the high yield of its modules. ISE and CSP Fraunhofer Institutes, Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin, and PV Lab have verified  the performance and durability, as well as the unique environmental sustainability, of Innotech Solar’s modules.

“The cells we employ are tested using over 200 test parameters, enabling us to guarantee that our modules are entirely free from hotspots and PID. We also set high quality standards in module production by solely using components from renowned manufacturers,” he says.

The company has kept its production in Europe. Cell optimization, for example, is performed in the German city of Halle an der Saale, while module production takes place in Glava, Sweden, at one of Europe’s most modern manufacturing plants.

The production process at both the German and Sweden plants is powered using 100 percent renewable energy, which is yet another way to keep things close to home.

India in limbo

India by contrast was a booming solar import market up until recently. According to news reports, India's plans for boosting its solar power are on hold after a proposal to impose anti-dumping duties on equipment from overseas has led developers to consider proposed projects unprofitable.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, industry officials say imports of solar equipment worth millions of dollars that were in the pipeline from th U.S., China, Taiwan and Malaysia are now unlikely to come to India anytime soon.

India had been planning to raise solar power generating capacity nearly tenfold by 2022 to help wean itself off heavy imports of oil and gas that contribute to a chronic trade deficit. The sector has been booming in recent months as the cost of imported solar equipment has dropped considerably.

The new duties on imports will also impact state-run electricity boards as higher electricity rates spurred by import duties are imposed and higher costs passed on, according to developers. But, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Indian equipment makers say higher tariffs are needed as cheap imports are “bleeding their companies.”

"We have lost millions of dollars," said H.R. Gupta, secretary of Indian Solar Manufacturers Association in a WSJ report. "Right now, we are supplying almost nothing to the domestic market."

Gupta, also managing director at solar equipment maker Indosolar, said the cost impact is being exaggerated and domestic manufacturers are capable of filling in the shoes of overseas equipment suppliers, a claim disputed by developers.

The case for locally made India modules and manufacturing could come to the forefront of energy policy, should the international chain of suppliers bite the bullet and turn their backs on this promising solar market, for both PV and thin film technologies.